1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for addressing a plasma display panel, and, more particularly, to a method adopted for an addressing step in a method for driving a plasma display panel in which a reset step, an address step and a sustain-discharge step are performed in a unit subfield.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a general surface-discharge plasma display panel, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an electrode line pattern of the plasma display panel shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows a cell forming a pixel of the plasma display panel shown in FIG. 1. Referring to the drawings, address electrode lines A1, A2, A3, . . . , Amxe2x88x921 and Am, a dielectric layer 11 (and/or 141 of FIG. 3), scan electrode lines Y1, Y2, . . . , Ynxe2x88x921 and Yn, common electrode lines X1, X2, . . . , Xnxe2x88x921 and Xn and a MgO layer 12 as a protective layer are provided between front and rear glass substrates 10 and 13 of a general surface-discharge plasma display panel 1.
The address electrode lines A1, A2, A3, . . . , Amxe2x88x922, Amxe2x88x921 and Am, coat the front surface of the rear glass substrate 13 in a predetermined pattern. Phosphors (142 of FIG. 3) may coat over the front surface of the address electrode lines A1, A2, . . . , Amxe2x88x921 and Am. Otherwise, the phosphors 142 may coat the dielectric layer 141 in the event that the dielectric layer 141 coats address electrode lines A1, A2, . . . , Amxe2x88x921 and Am in a predetermined pattern.
The common electrode lines X1, X2, . . . , Xnxe2x88x921 and Xn and the scan electrode lines Y1, Y2, . . . , Ynxe2x88x921 and Yn are arranged on the rear surface of the front glass substrate 10 orthogonal to the address electrode lines A1, A2, A3, . . . , Amxe2x88x922, Amxe2x88x921 and Am in a predetermined pattern. The respective intersections define corresponding pixels. The common electrode lines X1, X2, . . . , Xnxe2x88x921 and Xn and the scan electrode lines Y1, Y2, . . . , Ynxe2x88x921 and Yn each comprise indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode lines Xna and Yna, and a metal bus electrode lines Xnb and Ynb, as shown in FIG. 3. The dielectric layer 11 entirely coats the rear surface of the common electrode lines X1, X2, . . . , Xnxe2x88x921 and Xn and the scan electrode lines Y1, Y2, . . . , Ynxe2x88x921 and Yn. The MgO layer 12 to protects the panel 1 against a strong electrical field entirely coats the rear surface of the dielectric layer 11. A gas for forming plasma is hermetically sealed in a discharge space 14.
The driving method generally adopted to the plasma display panel described above is an address/display separation driving method in which a reset step, an address step and a sustain-discharge step are sequentially performed in a unit sub-field. In the address step of the address/display separation driving method, typically, while a scanning pulse is sequentially applied to all scan electrode lines Y1, Y2, . . . , Ynxe2x88x921 and Yn, corresponding image data signals are applied to the address electrode lines A1, A2, A3, . . . , Amxe2x88x922, Amxe2x88x921 and Am. However, according to the addressing method using a single pulse, sufficient wall charges cannot be produced at pixels to be displayed, which lowers the accuracy of display.
To solve this problem, there has been disclosed an addressing method in which a preliminary pulse for auxiliary discharge is applied immediately before a scanning pulse is applied. However, in view of driving characteristics of a three-electrode surface-discharge plasma display panel, the preliminary pulse should have a polarity opposite to that of the scanning pulse. Accordingly, while the preliminary pulse is applied to one of the scan electrode lines Y1, Y2, . . . , Ynxe2x88x921 and Yn, if the scanning pulse is applied to another scan electrode line, an undesired discharge is liable to occur at pixels between the corresponding scan electrode lines. According to the auxiliary-charge addressing method, since time for a preliminary pulse to be applied to the respective scan electrode lines Y1, Y2, . . . , Ynxe2x88x921 and Yn is necessary, the address period in this method is longer than that in the conventional method, which lowers display luminance.
To solve the above problems, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a method for addressing a plasma display panel, by which both accuracy and luminance of display can be enhanced in driving the plasma display panel.
Accordingly, to achieve the above objective, there is provided a method for addressing a plasma display panel in which scan electrode lines are arranged parallel with one another and address electrode lines are arranged so as to be orthogonal to the scan electrode lines, defining corresponding pixels at the respective intersections, the method including grouping the scan electrode lines into at least two scan electrode groups each having an equal number of scan electrode lines, sequentially applying a preliminary pulse having a first polarity and a scanning pulse having a second polarity opposite to the first polarity to the respective scan electrode groups, wherein while the preliminary pulse is applied to a scan electrode line of a first scan electrode group, the scanning pulse is applied to the scan electrode line immediately preceding the scan electrode line of the second scan electrode group corresponding to the scan electrode line of the first scan electrode group, and applying corresponding image data signals to all address electrode lines while the scanning pulse of the second polarity is applied to the respective scan electrode groups.
According to the addressing method of the present invention, the scan electrode line to which the preliminary pulse is applied and the scan electrode line of the second scan electrode group are spaced a predetermined distance apart from each other, by the partitioning of the scan electrode groups. Accordingly, even if the scanning pulse is applied to the scan electrode line of the second scan electrode group while the preliminary pulse is applied to the scan electrode line of the first scan electrode group, discharge does not occur between the two scan electrode lines.